show her lover that she had dared all things to keep faith, she came
slowly, little by little, back to the mulberry-tree.

She found Pyramus there, according to his promise. His own sword was in
his heart, the empty scabbard by his side, and in his hand he held her
veil still clasped. Thisbe saw these things as in a dream, and suddenly
the truth awoke her. She saw the piteous mischance of all; and when the
dying Pyramus opened his eyes and fixed them upon her, her heart broke.
With the same sword she stabbed herself, and the lovers died together.

There the parents found them, after a weary search, and they were
buried together in the same tomb. But the berries of the mulberry-tree
turned red that day, and red they have remained ever since.




PYGMALION AND GALATEA.


The island of Cyprus was dear to the heart of Venus. There her temples
were kept with honor, and there, some say, she watched with the Loves
and Graces over the long enchanted sleep of Adonis. This youth, a
hunter whom she had dearly loved, had died of a wound from the tusk of
a wild boar; but the bitter grief of Venus had won over even the powers
of Hades. For six months of every year, Adonis had to live as a Shade
in the world of the dead; but for the rest of time he was free to
breathe the upper air. Here in Cyprus the people came to worship him as
a god, for the sake of Venus who loved him; and here, if any called
upon her, she was like to listen.